ALAN SILVIA: Closing Taunton State Hospital would be a mistake

While every lawmaker from coast to coast looks at new legislation to reduce gun violence in America the elephant in the room seems to go unnoticed.

Alan Silvia

While every lawmaker from coast to coast looks at new legislation to reduce gun violence in America the elephant in the room seems to go unnoticed.

Violent crime committed by the mentally ill is running rampart. Recently, babies were slaughtered in Newtown, Conn. by a young man with obvious emotional and mental afflictions. Sadly, funding for mentally ill facilities is on the wane, and our health care system is seemingly less and less sympathetic to the needs of the mentally ill. Knee-jerk outpatient treatment programs are not always the best medicine for the patient or public safety.

Taunton State Hospital is on the hit list, inadequately funded and it may be closed, forcing patients where? To a neighborhood near you, onto the streets, without care, treatment and the tools needed to keep them safe and you safe. Often we learn that a murder has been committed by someone who is mentally unstable. I believe that if we provided the proper treatment, then less crime — and less violent crime — would occur. Institutions such as the Taunton State Hospital are important, and they should not close their doors.

How often have the mentally ill caused chaos and death in recent history? Men like Jared Loughner, John Hinckley, Charles Whitman, Adam Lanza and James Holmes to name a few, might have been stopped if they’d been properly treated, counseled and admitted into a mental health facility. Sadly, red tape, and lack of funding stand in the way of treating such people.

The majority of the mentally ill are not violent, but violence is often evident with patients who have schizophrenia or bipolar disorders three to four times more often for those with a substance abuse disorder than for those without. In addition, genetics, poverty, stress, early exposure to violence and child abuse contribute to heinous acts of violence when mental health goes untreated.

My experience in law enforcement, corrections and substance abuse treatment has shown me numerous cases where the above facts are proven time and time again. I can also tell you that the burden of a mentally ill child or adult cannot be placed entirely on the family. Government assistance and professional psychiatric care must be assessable. Psychiatric beds and treatment in Worcester, nearly the same distance from Fall River to Newtown, does not address the problem in the SouthCoast and is not acceptable.

Locking up these individuals, often the case when a crime against society is committed is costly and ineffective — long-term intervention, treatment, therapy and compassion should be the first steps toward dealing with the mentally ill.

Recent violent events prove that we have a problem which affects all of us, so government, the health care profession, you and I need to stand together on this issue. Closing such facilities as the Taunton State Hospital would be a dire mistake, in my opinion.

Alan Silvia, D-Fall River, is the new state representative for the 7th Bristol District.